Omaha daily bee., 1887-08-21

with pen sud pencil, as MARI
Lemon, John Leach. Douglas Jerrold.
Thackeray, and others. They arc oil gone
now. II is wonder, considering their occu-
patton, that some OF them lived as long As
they did.
At the meeting OF savauts In New York last
week Professor Lucien Howe read paper
on the increase of blindness In the United
States. lie shows that In the decade between
1870 and 1850, the population increased 80
per cent while the increase of blindness was
l4O per cent. Contaaion is found to be the
most potent agency In spreading blindness.
The cost Of maintaining the blind people 10
the country during the past year was $685.
000, 900.
as
The crowned heads of Europe ought TO b<
able to lay up something for old age. Th,
Emperor of Russia receives SS250,000 poi
annum; the Sultan OF Turkey, $4,000, 900; the
Emperor of Austria, 1000, 900; the King Of
Prussia, 49, 600; the King Of Italy, s2,40O,.
600; the Queen Of England, $4,000 600; the
Queen OF Spain. 81, 800. 900, and the King OF
Belgium, S5O0.OOO. No wonder the working
people are poor.
-
A new local anaesthetic Is said to have
been discovered recently by one DR.. Good.
man, veterinary surgeon, while travelling
through West Feliciana parish. La. He had
occasion to apply a poultice to a swelling on
the fetlock of one of his norses. He used tho
first leaves that came to hand, that Of the
''tear blanket tree" saturated with hot water.
After making free incision In the swelling,
he was surprised to find that the horse
evinced not the slightest feeling Of pain.
DIR. Claiborne of New York, thinks 1t will
equal If not excel cocaine.
x*x
G. b. Massedaglia physician and chemist,
who died in Padua forty years ago, succeeded
in petrifying several animal bodies, which
he bequeathed to the university museum.
His will provided that his method should
only be divulged to his legal heirs. Until
recently all attempts to discover these have
proved fruitless, but they have been found al
last and have been offered large sums OF
money to disclose the secret. which, how
ever. they refuse to do. They probably think
we ought to be satisfied with the number Of
fossils among human animals that we have.
%#x
The English poet, Algernon Charles Swim
burne, some years ago praised Walt Whit
man as his ideal singer, calling him poet
with ''strong- winged sour and clips pro-
phetlc." lie seems now to have changed his
opinion and In a recent magazine article
calls him rotund oratist of "exuberant In.
confluence" and harper whose paws are
dirty and clumsy and whose plectrum Is a
muck rake" Swinburne is now fifty years
old and morality in his case certainly
t.,h hn n mott Nf tioQnpQs
In his younger days he wrote some very
"exuberant" poetry himself. Walt Whitman
says he will not reply to this attack of his
former disciple.
The TheosOphists of Paris have an organ,
review called the Lotos, conducted by q
Hindoo, zone of the Initiated" The Tho0-
sOphists claim that 1t Is quite unnecessary
for person to die II he really desires to live,
and . recent number of the Lotos make
known the secret OF perennial life. 1t Is not
in the line of the old-tlme idea OF an elixir Of
life but quite modern and bears the scientific
trademark OF the nineteenth century. Thd
secret Is simply will-power. If one,s0 wills,
with sufficient energy, he may live for
thousand years longer. When we die we die
because our will power is not strong enough
to keep us alive. A passing wish
for continued existence will not produce tho
desired result. There must be ''contin ual
concentration" of mind, the bodily organs
must be subjected to the will and the pas
siOns eradicated-a sort Of dried-beef c0ndi.
ton must be arrived at, in short. Anyone
now living who follows the TheOsophst pre-
scriptiOn with sufficient persistence can thus
be wandering about in the glimpses Of the
moon thousands of years henco like an ami
mated mummy. What opportunities he will
have Of comparing the desperate present
with the glorious past to the rising genera
toni Nearly year ago an Indian Theoso'
phist came over to this country from London
where he became for time quite the fashion,
He was very spare, verv dark and very
learned. The papers tried to make him
topic for the time being, but he proved rather
elusive and was not good subject to inter
view. The Theosophsts Of New York and
Boston. however, had few meetings at
which he was the reigning spirit. Whether
he succeeded In starting any of the faithful
on career of physical immortality has not
been definitely ascertained.
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